Monta having fun with a pudding cup

 NNmmmmmmm.......why do they make this thing so small?....it`s so good!

 There`s some left! I can see it!!!

 I`m not doing anything....I`m just smelling the cup.

 Nmmmm....pudding.......nmmmmnnnmmmm

 The cup has been conquered! Now, for the spoon!!

 Please let there be some left somewhere!

Haha! It`s mine! You can`t catch me!

Giant Omelete

 I really liked the decor in this restaurant. They had this wall that had different spices and legumes in this sections of the wall.

 This is me, shocked at the size of my omelete. I didn`t know omeletes came in this size, but I was not prepared for Sato`s omelete which you can see further down in this entry, if you can`t wait. (^-^)

 I had the omelete with yukari rice inside and grated Japanese radish on top. Here I am pouring ponzu on top.....Yum!

 A view of the inside of my omelete.

 Sato ordered the extra big omelete without asking the waitress how big the regular is.....he likes to assume that regular is never enough food for him. So, this is him shocked at how giant this thing is. He ordered the yukari rice filling with grated nagai imo (long potato, that gets thick and sticky when grated, like natto) and mentaiko (cod roe).

 Sato using the chopsticks to show just how big this thing is....he did Not eat this with chopsticks......that would have taken hours.....he shoveled it in with a spoon.

 Sato showing his "I`m so happy it tastes sooooo good!" face. Plus, this shows that the omelete was about as big as his head.

This is me, stuffed to the point where I could not finish my omelete, but very satisfied! Thank you omelete restaurant in Higashi-ku Aeon! I tried some of Sato`s omelete and it was very good! If you like mentaiko and don`t mind the sticky-ness of the potato, you will like this option. If you want more of a Japanese flavor omelete try the one I had. It was very refreshing! Enjoy!

Don Muang....The Best Thai Restaurant in Sakae!

 Sato and I LOVE this Thai restaurant. We came across it because at my first job I was a preschool teacher. One of my student's family is Thai and has this Thai restaurant. They invited me to their restaurant and so Sato and I went and Oh My God, it was soooooo good!! When I am craving spicy food Sato and I go here. Sato isn't very good with the spicy foods so even though we ask them to bring down the heat he still starts sweating. lol When they bring down the heat it's about perfect for me, spicy without losing the flavor. If I had to guess my spicy tolerance level, I would say about medium or a little below medium. Sato is a zero tolerance level if that helps any. lol This is a sauteed vegetables  and one of their soups, I think it was a seafood soup with egg or something in it. I can't remember what it was called, but they have pictures in their menu so just match and order!

 This is one of our favorite dishes at this restaurant. It is a seasonal dish, because crab is a winter item. This is deep fried crab with a curry sauce that has egg, onions and some other veggies in it. We order rice and put this on top of rice and it is the best thing ever! I'm sure it's not the best for the waistline, but we don't eat here ever week so it's ok! lol

 This time we wanted to try some new dishes (they have a very extensive menu!). This was a fish with veggies! We were getting full at this point so we were glad that it was a small dish! It took them a little while to get this dish out, but apparently they are down a chef and are in the works for a second chef. So, the speed in the kitchen should pick up once they find a suitable chef for their kitchen.

Sato and I LOVE this dessert! It is coconut milk with this aloe jelly rice type things. They can't even really describe it that well, but it is one of the best desserts that I have every experienced eating.....and I have eaten a lot of desserts!
So, if you are in Nagoya and are craving something spicy, or just some good thai food go here! It is called Don Muang's and I believe you can find them online. Otherwise, go down Hirokoji-dori (towards Nagoya station). When you come to the intersection where you see Tsuboikaen florist on your right and the Tokyu Inn on your left (with a Starbucks on the first floor) turn left! Park in the first parking lot on your right, because the Don Muang is in the building right next to it on the first floor. Please visit this restaurant, I guarantee you will not be disappointed by the food!

My Birthday Dinner

 If I remember what Sato said correctly, the place mats at this restaurant are hand written and painted that day. So this morning this paper was blank! I believe he said the owner of the restaurant does all of them herself, of course not many people are allowed into this restaurant in a day.

 This was my place mat. Each place mat is different.This restaurant is called "Yoshikawa" as written on the coaster in the top right hand corner in Kanji.

 This is Sato showing me his "I'm really hungry and can't wait for the feast to begin" face.

 This little thing was our heater. Considering how small it was it kept the room at a decent temperature. I wouldn't have minded having this a closer to me though.

 My view of our personal "kitchen". Our chef for the night puts our food together here, but the main kitchen is next door. So if he had to grill something or get drinks he had to leave the room.

 I don't usually drink, but since it was my birthday and apparently I could drink as much as I wanted for the same price, so I ordered a beer! It looked so pretty that I had to take this picture.

 Our first item of the night! Yay!! It was made out of fish and the soup was a thick broth, but it was very good! It was a good start to the feast.

 Then we had some sashimi! It was very good. We had to eat the sashimi with little accents that you can see next to the fish on the plate. We also had ponzu in one dish, with grated Japanese radish and regular soy sauce in the left dish. The chef asked us to eat the fish in a certain combination to experience the flavor they wanted to express to us.

 Some more fish fashioned into a ball with yuzu accents. Very flavorful!

 Me, before I popped into my mouth.

 I think this is self-explanatory.

 This was mackeral wrapped in a thin layer of Japanese Radish.....one of my favorites!!

 Uni!

 The dish on the left was baby eels. The flavor was very simple and didn't taste like grilled eel that I normally eat. In the middle dish it was very crunchy octopus, it was my favorite out of the three dishes. The dish on the right was vegetables, I think it was spinach or something like it, with radish onto. Very simple, but good.

 Clam miso soup. It was very good, but I couldn't eat or drink this soup since I was getting full and wanted to eat the rest of the sushi course. lol But, don't worry it didn't go to waste, Sato ate the clams and drank the soup.

 When I finished my beer I switched to sake! I got to choose which cup I wanted to drink out of. So many choices! Which one should I use????!

 I chose this one! The sake was very refreshing it was a little on the sweeter side, since I don't like dry sake. It was very easy to drink and I'm sure it was expensive. This is probably the one and only time that I will be able to drink this sake. lol The man in the background is our personal chef for the night! He was very nice and Sato enjoyed talking to him all night.

 Yum!

 Squid and ginger in the background.

 This looks like beef, but actually it's tuna! It was sooooooooooo good! It just melted in my mouth!

 My little dashi tamago! This is egg made with dashi, a broth from usually a type of seaweed. It was lovely!

 Akagai....red clam. Normally, I don't like this clam, but this was a very good one!

 The radish was cut into this little flower! It was made out of one piece!!

 mmmmmm shrimp

 Grilled anago! The other eel. lol

 Shirako....for lack of a better explanation in English......fish brains, BUT it's soooooo good! If you like foods that melt in your mouth, this is the best. It doesn't have a fishy flavor either. This was lightly roasted and had seven spices sprinkled on it, one of the spices is like cayenne pepper. It gives it a tiny tiny little kick.

 Our dessert! It was grapefruit jelly with strawberries,mangoes and a little grapefruit within the grapefruit!

It was so good that I couldn't let the little bit that was left on the top go to waste! This entire course took 3 hours to complete. This is one of the reasons why you have to make a reservation in advance, because they only serve a small number of people in a day. They only gather enough food for the menu of that day for a certain number of people. This restaurant is in a area known as "Yoshikawa Mura" or Yoshikawa town. There are three restaurants run by the same owner. One is this sushi restaurant, another is a Japanese style restaurant, and the third one is an Italian restaurant. They are all supposedly good, but Sato has only been to this sushi restaurant....and wants to visit the other ones some time soon. lol I wouldn't say no to eating at the other two restaurants, especially if they are as good as this place, I'm in!! Thank Sato for the wonderful birthday dinner, it was awesome!!!!! \ (^-^) /